Something I learned about BMI...

Hi, SamE!

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I find skin-fold calipers do a decent job of estimating body fat if you're not too overweight. Most calipers max out at 60mm of skinfold, which is inadequate to measure most people over 300 pounds.
I own a pair and have tested hundreds of people with fairly consistent results. They do require some practice and skill.
I'm personally not a fan of bio-impedance devices at all as the same person can test quite differently over a 24 hr. period, due to daily water fluctuations.
As sharon.rd notes, BMI for athletes can be misleading.
Here's a nice link that posts interactive pictures of males and females at different body fat percentages.
Click the pic that looks most like you for an estimate of your body fat.

http://askthetrainer.com/fat-loss.html

Edited by gpaul7 - 04 Jun 2010 at 10:49pm

Originally posted by swub Isn't a water tank test the most accurate?

Yes, under-water weighing is considered accurate, although there can be some issues with lung volumes that lead to buoyancy, i.e. estimated versus measured.
Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) could be more accurate.
DEXA uses two X-ray energies to measure body fat, muscle, and bone mineral.